Great light wind foiling

I had a great lesson teaching Michelle and Ron as my season opener for the Launch Pad. Full blog post on the launchpad website includes Phillip getting foiling!

Phillip on his long foil run

Teaching at the Launch Pad

After the lesson, it was time for me to get out on the water. It was barely 8 knots and Phillip was indecisive as to whether he wanted to have his first session of the year. I said I’m gonna rig up the 8 m Ventis and the 2140 foil under the 142 Sky SUP foil board and I headed out. 

Wow what a light wind power machine. Got going got up wind had a couple of good runs, but then I parked the gear at the point.

My little 8 knot light wind session

I walked back and looked at Phillip and said "you’ve gotta go!" He said all right, then got his wetsuit on came to the point. We spotted a mink hanging out by the foilboard. Phillip hopped on the gear. He slogged into to the Harbour and then on his way coming out into the stronger winds of Georgian Bay he caught a couple of puffs pumped up onto the foil. He headed all the way out to Mann Island over 1km away on that one run!

Phillip headed to the point

Curious mink

Phillip way in the distance!

That is a good amount of distance!

I was chatting with him on the bbTalking headset the whole way and it was incredible how far he went on his one run and how well the headsets worked. They he had gotten so far into the wind shadow that it took him quite a while to head back. He never did get a second time up on the foil, but that one run was more than worth it.

Nice to have the Launch Pad build progressing and be able to get my windsurf locker ready for the season.

Temporary board storage

The new Launch Pad!

Best session of the year - so far!

On Thursday I brought the plumbers back to the highway. The Launch Pad is progressing! I also took the incorrectly labeled left side bathtub back to exchange at Home Depot in Collingwood. On Friday in picked up my in-laws and got back up to the cottage.

Saturday we had wind predicted and I timed my session nicely after taking my boys out to the island for a tour of the construction. It sure was windy on the upper floor.

I took the 5m Duotone Echo wing and the 1500cm foil under the 125l Sky board. Got up on the foil and did almost 10 km in 30 minutes without falling (just one brief slog.) Overall 20 km for my longest session since my surgery in November.

Toeside to heelside tacks are nailed and are fun. I’m struggling again with my heelside to toeside tacks. Luca caught some nice video of me at the point. Thanks!

Thanks Luca for capturing the action!

Some nice downwind jibes in the middle!

Almost 30 minutes before my first fall!
I was correct when I when I answered 30 km/h 
to the many friends who were asking “How fast do you go?”

4 - 5 pm was great! Wind dropped after that.

Launch Pad looks great from the harbour!
(Building past the lighthouse behind us is still bigger!)

Here’s the video:

I need to file down the trailing edges on that 1500 foil which makes so much noise especially after re-tightening all the bolts. Even better, I hope I find my newer and faster 1080 foil when we tidy up the construction storage.

Enjoyed some nice gatherings in harbour with so many friends. I think several will come join me for windsurfing, foiling or sailing sessions this summer.

Missed the wind window: Got the new windows

It was a very busy day at the launch pad with construction of the roof going at an impressive speed. The DEL window truck arrived at the highway at 11am with the windows exactly as planned. Brock and Matt helped get it unloaded and onto the barge. 

The windows on the barge!

I almost thought the barge wasn’t gonna make it because of the very strong south wind. Steve is a champion and got the barge unloaded safely. The windows are now safely tied down inside the building.

Unloading the barge

After the crew was done I downloaded the time lapse. Then it was time to go for a quick session myself. I actually walked the Skate 108 out to the point, but realized wasn’t quite that much wind anymore. 

I did wind up going out on the 5m slick with the 1500 foil under my sky 125 board. I worked my way up the channel with a couple of foiling bits, but the wind definitely backed off from the earlier gusts that had been making sheeting the roof a challenge. Was fine in my 3/2 short sleeve.

Not quite enough for the 5m wing

Window and wingfoil storage

I’m looking forward to getting all my wind sensors set up in the next week or two before I start actual Launch Pad lessons. That way I’ll be more likely to choose the right gear!9

Jen and I enjoyed a nice dinner with Katie and watched a bit of the last game of the playoffs. We decided to sleep overnight on the island so we could wake up in our new bedroom on our 31st wedding anniversary. Feeling super grateful to Chris and the crew for getting the launchpad off the ground so quickly.

A little toast to our new place

It was windy in the tent until 1:30 am

The stars through the bedroom rafters

The next morning

Foiling before the friend's visit

My morning was busy picking up the construction crew and the stairs for the new Launch Pad.

Got the stairs for the new launchpad (in the background!)

By the time lunch had been grilled the wind was nice and I was happy to have a few minutes to go foiling. I pumped up the new Duotone 8m Ventis with my new Ryobi 18v pump. Jen's 142 Sky was still rigged with the 2140 pump foil.

I took off in the 8 knots while Brock and Wyatt were on a break. There was just enough to pump onto the foil and I managed a few tacks and jibes out the narrow channel while they watched.

The session was very chill and I was feeling great. My toeside to heelside tacks are getting really good with the big gear. I do need to get some harness lines though.

Doug and Stephanie arrived in their boat and watched as I did some jibes back to the dock. Definitely light wind and quite amazed that I can go out in under 10 knots and foil.

Bill, Christine, Mike and Bob came by to check out the building progress. What fun having everyone checking out the new windsurf locker and upstairs.

The new stairs!

Looking into the launchpad garage

The old and the new…

Father’s Day foil

After a quick trip to Toronto on Saturday to see Phillip and my mom I was looking forward to a nice Father’s Day in Key Harbour with Katie and Geoffrey.

Crepes for breakfast and then a boat ride out to the Bustards to look at a CL 14 sailboat that we are being given! We stopped on the way back and took a photo where I proposed to Jen and got the whole father thing got rolling. Then some steak for lunch.

Geoffrey and Michelle with the new Launchpad in behind

Jen on the Seadoo

Heading out to the bustards

Captain Katie

That’s where I proposed

The Launch Pad is visible from there!

Father’s day lunch

Did some work at the island and set up my new Duotone Ventis 8m wing. The wind was gusty from the north all day and I really wasn’t feeling like headin out for a session.

But then at 4pm the wind reversed to SW and suddenly it was 15 knots. I knew that wouldn’t last but hoped that I’d get a bit of a session in the beautiful sun.

Jen can see me from the new living room!

Good foil track. I shouldn’t go between some of those islands

Heart rate and getting on foil are related

Had a decent amount of WSW wind - average over 10 knots

I managed to be out for part of the 10-12 knot period and the Ventis and the 2140 pump foil under Jen’s 142 Duotone Sky board which worked well. Tacks were especially interesting as the big wing overhead makes the tacking (toeside to heelside) super easy.

Thanks Jen for the video!

A lovely day with 2/3 of my kids checking out the progress on the island build. Gonna be a busy week getting the roof on!

Dock finish - then wing foiling

Well, I didn’t get a dock start, but I wasn’t trying. I was working all afternoon on the second ramp for the new dock and got it set in place. So a dock finish.

The second ramp to the new dock

Wind was looking pretty good at over 10 knots so I started rigging up to go out on the 1500 foil. By the time I had some stuff assembled in the wind had dried up. I put the big 2140 pump foil under the sky 125 board and pumped up the 6m echo.

Wow, that was the ticket I was able to pump up on the foil in what were very marginal winds. Sometimes there would be a good gust and I’d really get going. One run I went way out into the bay and wound up still foiling as the water turned to glassy around me. It was surreal. Had to slog for a while heading back in and then got another eight or so knot gust, which seems to be my new wind minimum. No white caps at all very cool to get going and still have silence around without any waves breaking or even ripping nearby.

The 6m echo felt easier to pump and get going on than the 7m Slick. I love the boom on the Slick but the newer Echo just feels more efficient. I didn’t make much upwind ground though.

I got lots of toeside tacks but had one wipe out where my foot was stuck in the strap. I was completely underwater and had to use my foot to twist the board or put the foil into the air so I could get my foot out. My helmet made contact I think with the foil but nothing too dramatic. My ankle will probably be a bit sore for the next day. As I was heading back in the wind felt warm when I got closer to the harbour so I started doing foiling 360s and having more fun than I expected in such a little wind. 

Pretty cool looking down into thebwater while at speed and seeing a little bit of seaweed stuck on my foil. Probably the first time I’ve actually seen that since the 2140 foil is soooo wide. All in all very nice session and very very little wind amazing.

The Windsurf App I used for this session is a bit sensitive and turned off recording when I was underwater. I should have locked the screen. So the GPS trail is in two parts. I figure I did 10km total in the hour. I got 130 intensity minutes for the day including the dock building!

A bit of work getting out of the channel

Nice foiling jibes back to the dock

Some pretty light wind - averaging 8-9 knots

I did foil back in to the dock and set down nicely beside it.

Here is a photo of my finished project. In other news the walls should go up on the Launch Pad rebuilding tomorrow!

New dock at the Launch Pad

My ankle did hurt quite a bit later in the evening. Here’s hoping for a quick recovery on that.

PostScript - 48 hours later… left foot feels ok, looks a bit strange.